Isaiah 5:28

28 their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

Isaiah 5:28 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 5:28

Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent
Ready to shoot their arrows upon any occasion; and which being sharp, penetrated deep, and were deadly. This includes all kind of warlike instruments, with which they should come furnished, and ready prepared to do execution: their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint;
by those who rode upon them; who knowing how strong and firm they were, and that they were not worn out, nor hurt by the length of the way they came, would not spare to make haste upon them: and their wheels like a whirlwind;
that is, the wheels of their chariots, they used in battle, as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it: this metaphor denotes both the swiftness with which they should come, and the noise and rattling they should make, and the power and force in bearing down all before them. The Targum is,

``and his wheels swift as a tempest.''

Isaiah 5:28 In-Context

26 He will raise a signal for a nation afar off, and whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes!

27 None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistcloth is loose, not a sandal-thong broken;

28 their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

29 Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey, they carry it off, and none can rescue.

30 They will growl over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea. And if one look to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.